Temple Grandin to keynote AME conference

Best-selling author and lecturer Temple Grandin will keynote the Association for Manufacturing Excellence’s annual International Excellence Inside Conference, October 24-28 in Dallas, TX.

10/06/2011

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Dr. Grandin, a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University whose life was depicted in the award-winning HBO film, Temple Grandin, will discuss three kinds of specialized minds: Photo realistic visual thinkers, pattern thinkers and word thinkers. This higlights how her way of thinking and her gifted challenge of autism have helped her revolutionize the design of livestock process handling facilities around the world, as well as the culture that manages them.

Dr. Grandin is one of eight major presentations at the 2011 AME Conference. Other industry experts who will keynote at the conference include:

Robyn Benincasa, a professional adventure racer, firefighter and teamwork-building who inspires people to become high-performance leaders.

Gary Convis, a consultant to Dana Holding Corporation. In his address, Convis will explain his extensive experience with the Toyota Production System and how that helped him develop the Dana Operating System.

Alan Gross, vice president of operations at Currier Plastics, Inc. He will discuss his experiences transforming four unique organizations into high-performance entities.

Gregory Hall, senior vice president of technical operations at FedEx Express. Hall will discuss what FedEx has done, and is doing, to inspire their employees to focus on safety, ethical and professional standards, customer and community needs.

Sarah Patterson, the executive vice president and COO at Virginia Mason Medical Center, which uses its own production system to continually improve how work is done.

Mike Rother, a bestselling author, as well as an engineer, researcher and teacher affiliated with the University of Michigan, the Industrial Technology Institute, the Fraunhofer Institute and the Technical University Dortmund.

Charles “Gus” Whalen, Jr., chairman of The Warren Featherbone Company who will speak about how companies that innovate, invest in their employees and adapt to change will realize a bright future.

James Womack, Ph.D., the founder of and senior advisor to the Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. Womack will discuss advancing Lean thinking around the world.

“We are pleased to present such accomplished and inspiring keynote speakers for our 2011 Annual International Excellence Inside Conference,” says conference chair Cheryl Jekiel. “We are committed to providing attendees an unparalleled conference experience, and these individuals will undoubtedly fulfill this commitment, challenging our thinking and providing new ideas we can bring back to our businesses.”

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